It all started when I saw Patricia on our mutual friend's instagram story. They had just worked out and and I was also in the middle of exercising when I saw their picture. I kept looking back at it over and over again because I couldn't stop looking at Patricia. After about 30 minutes or so, I messaged our mutual friend and said, "Hey, your friend is v cute. That is all." I full heartedly believed that Patricia already had a boyfriend at the time but I just wanted to shoot my shot while not expecting anything positive in return. After a little while, my friend replied with the big eyes emojis (if you know you know) which totally confused me and I asked her to elaborate. She took her sweet time to respond but our mutual friend replied saying that Patricia was actually single and thought that I was cute too. Of course I took all this information in a very cool, calm, and collected manner (I totally did not take the information in a calm, cool, and collected manner) as I was going to meet my friends for dinner. I immediately told them what was going on and asked one of my friends what my opening line should be and she said, "Do you like fries?" Thank GOD I didn't listen to her and just introduced myself to Patricia via Instagram. Our conversation became effortless and we just connected seamlessly. Unfortunately, the dinner I was having with my friends involved an amazingly cheap happy hour so the alcohol was flowing and flowing and flowing. I ended up throwing up later that night and I swore I thought I told Patricia, "Hey so I'm having drinks with my friends and I'm getting pretty drunk so I'll text you tomorrow so I don't say anything foolish or stupid", you know like a gentlemen. Apparently, I didn't do that and just didn't reply to her and she later told me she thought I ghosted her. The next morning, I apologized profusely but somehow got the courage to ask her out on a date a few days later and even more surprisingly, she said yes. We became official 10 days after we shared our first messages on Instagram and the rest is history. So, moral of the story is, maybe it doesn't go down in the DMs, rather it goes down in the mutual friends DMs who then plays matchmaker for you guys but ultimately, it's still God's love story for us.

10 hours - our date was probably the longest date to ever exist. This was my first date in over three years and let me tell you, my heart rate was over 120 based on my apple watch. My best friend, Cassidy, was with me as I got ready. For some reason, we decided to read my non-negotiables of my future husband and Cassidy prayed for me before J picked me up. I received a text that he was here and I started to sweat and squeal. I asked Cassidy to check where he was and after she peeked through our window, she loudly whispered, "he's on the patio!" Little did I know, but later on that night, J told me he heard Cassidy and I laughing and whispering haha. As I opened the door, there was J - my tall, handsome and adorable date holding a bouquet of flowers. We hugged real quick and fast walked to the car as we were both nervous. Of course, he opened the door. The first couple of minutes consisted of shy giggles, many "hi" and nervous laughters. Throughout our date, we caught one another looking at each other. Little did I know that I wasn't sly while looking at him as he was driving. We ate at Sup Noodle Bar, which we go to more than twice a month since we started dating. After he bought me coffee at Paderia, we had about a three to four hour date at Heritage Park where we talked and listened to our stories. We took a bathroom break at Target AND THEN, when we got back to the car, he asked me if I wanted gum. Y'all! I took my seat belt off because I thought he was going to kiss me LOL. Well, he didn't. What a gentleman. J was starving so he ate at Coco Ichibanya (I was too nervous to eat haha). It was almost 8pm and we were one minute away from my house until one of my best friends, Jayleen, said our sleep over was going to be delayed from 8pm to 10pm. I told J, "I don't want to go home..." For another 2 hours, he drove around all the way to Cerritos where he used to go to church. Our car rides consisted of singing worship music and love song. I'm pretty sure I fell in love that night. 10 days later, we became official and the rest is history. :)